Gary Zeigler; coaching extraordinaire.

[twl221]

Week 6 versus the Raiders (the lowest scoring team coming in) was another expected result, as I demolished them 49-7. Brees had a game without a pick!, going 27/32(84%)-297-3-0, just tremendous. Bush was alright on the ground, 22-69-2, and received well, 11-98-0. Both Bress and Neysmith had rushing TDs. Colston caught one of Brees TD passes, 11-119-2, and Kennison the other, 557-2.

On Defense, we had 3 sacks (Elvis, Smith, Moore) and 2 picks (Vilma, Suggs). Andrew Walter just played the worst game of his life, finishing at a remarkably bad line of 5/25-79-0-2. They also rushed for negative yardage, combining for 14--11. They had 12 punts, and their only touchdown came on a Higgins kick return. They are bad.

Week 7 at Carolina was a blowout, 35-23, with 13 of theirs coming in garbage time. Brees was masterful, 35/52-460-5-1, as the secondaries of the teams I have played are just awful. We did nothing on the ground, not that we needed to, Bush on had 5-17, and receiving wise was just 4-36-1 (He did get hurt but returned after a quarter). Brees spread it around, 4 different guys catching a TD (Cason, Morgan 2, Bush, Kennison). Colston didn't catch one but still finished 11-128-0.

We weren't flashy on defense, Dumervil with our only sack, and Trufant with our only pick, but we did enough. Delhomme still got his, 27/41-383-2-1, but a lot in garbage time. Williams also had a slow game, but still punched one in, 19-42-1.

Week 8 was a battle between two of the highest scoring offenses in the league, versus San Diego at home. As expected, it was a defensive struggle with New Orleans coming out on top 17-10 /sarcasm. Our offense struggled, Brees had a fairly mediocre day at 23/36-301-1-2 and Bush was held to a very low average finishing 20-49-1, but played well through the air 8-113-0. Morgan caught the TD pass.

Defensively, however, we were monsters (we held LT to negative yards at the half). Rivers was a terribly inefficient 14/30-265-1-2, Harper picked him off twice. Tomlinson got it together and put up positive yardage, but still played awfully, only being able to muster 23 yards on 29 attempts. Like I said, our guys can shoot a gap, finishing this game versus San Diego was an astounding 16 TFLs (Rivers and Smith lead with 4 each).

Right now, heading into the bye, we stand at 7-1, one game ahead of Tampa. My next game against them, week 13 at Tampa, will likely be for the divisional crown. The NFC is not nearly as good as the AFC this year, as we have just 3 teams with one loss (Cowboys with 7 wins, Giants with 6). The AFC has 2 unbeaten teams at this point, Indy at 6-0, and NE at 7-0. The Steelers and Titans also have just one loss, and the Chargers have 2 (They also tied the Bills).

We have the number one scoring offense as it stands, 24 more points that the Patriots, although they have one less game played, at 274 points scored, and have a middle of the road scoring defense at 146 points, which is certainly good enough with our offensive numbers. We also have the most yardage (and pass yardage) in the league, but a bottom 10 rush offense, which makes sense, as we pass to get into scoring range, evident by our 17 rushing touchdowns (4 more than the number 2 team). Again we are average on defense, but do have a top 3 rush defense, as well as 29 sacks (2nd) and 2 defensive touchdowns (1st). We also have the best red zone defense in the league, only 8 touchdowns (6 field goals) in 29 attempts

[Mike3207]

Yes, I always start the QB every game. Players might progress if they're active on the roster, but it'll be lot slower if they don't get regular playing time.

[twl221]

Awards and rookie update:

Bush and Brees sit at 1 and 2 in the MVP race, my money would go to Bush winning, 19 touchdowns though 8 games (15 on the ground).

Bush also leads (not surprisingly) OPOTY (Brees 3) and RB of the year.

"The Beast" Rivers is number 1 in DPOY, at 65 tackles, 24 for loss, 3 sacks, 2 picks, and 2 FFumbles. We'll see how his second half goes. Dumervil is at 4th. Jared Allen is #2 with a ridiculous 11 sacks through 7 games.

Josh Morgan has stepped up and is #2 in OROY, behing Donnie Avery for Minnesota.

Not surprisingly, Rivers is #1 for DROY.

Colston is #4 in WROY; Brown is #5 in OLOY (SD with top 3); Dumervil #2 for DLOY, Smith #5; The Beast #1 LBOY; Trufant #2 DBOY; and me at #1 for COY (Though it still says I'm on the hot seat.

Free Agency looks interesting, as right now, Peppers has yet to resign with Carolina. He's the only guy I'll look to make a play on.

Also I resigned a few players, the only big one being Jeff Faine, most of the others are backups for depth and PB knowledge. I'm in the process of resigning Evans to an extension, and I will let Vilma be tagged.

Draft Class special: Quit for the QBs.
With 5 teams sitting at one win going into week 9 of the NFL season, 4 in dire need of a QB (Cleveland has Anderson), the Ravens, Bears, 49ers, and Raiders are playing terribly on both sides of the ball this year, but especially offense. The Raiders are historically bad, having only scored 52 points through 7 games- but they are not the worst in that respect this year; that would be the Bears, who are averaging just slightly over 4 points per game, with only 29 points this year.

Fear not, however! This year's draft is highlighted by 4 potentially special players, 3 Qbs and one CB. While the only team in need of an elite corner over a QB would be Cleveland, the top 2 are almost assuredly going to be quarterbacks Mike Zazzili, Arizona, and Morgan Barnes, USC. Chris Essex of UConn looks to be the dark horse as of now. Both winless teams, Chicago and Oakland, are set up for #1 and #2 right now, and experts agree that Oakland favors the Cannon armed Barnes, while Chicago could be a toss up. It will be an interesting draft, so stay tuned!

[waitforachance]

Is the New Orleans defense hard to play with? I tried to use them once and wanted to chuck my controller sometimes, especially at the run defense.

[Mike3207]

I want to amend my earlier statement on QB development. A lot's going to depend on how developed he is. If he's got low ratings like Johnson or your QB, it's worth it to get QB Intangibles and Learning to 3-4.

Another possibility is Playbook Training. I recently learned it lets players learn the plays faster regardless of learning level. that might help your QB learn the plays faster.

[twl221]

Well I'm just trying to get him as good as possible. I am starting to work on my intangible development and learning development for me and my OC (Carmichael is maxed at 3-5-5). Well see how it goes.

This isn't the Saints defense you know; the only starters that were originally on the team are Harper and Young in the defensive backs, both of whom aren't that good, and Vilma, who is solid. The play book is also new, I have the Jags one on defense.

[twl221]

Another weak team in Atlanta, (though they signed Turner like irl and drafted Matty Ice, #2 guy) we dominated 71-17. Surprisingly, Neysmith garbage timed it and threw 3 Tds against the porus pass defense of the Falcons, finishing 8/11-116-3-1, while Brees was average, 20/34-266-0-1. Bush punched it in twice, going 16-68-2. Kennison caught 2 and Cilston the other score.

On defense and special teams, however, we were absolutely dominant. Trent Green, their starter, was alright minus the three picks, 26/43-322-2-3. They stuck to the ground game early but abandon it late on the first, Turner only able to get 27 on 20. We do, however, continue our struggle against teams with burners, as Trufant can't go stride for stride and Harper is not great behind him, as Laurent Robinson of all people finished with 9-150-2. No sacks on the day, but we had 15 TFLs, Suggs leading with 4. Ko Simpson had 2 picks (one for six) and Trufant had the other. Vilma made a great play where he burst through the line, allowing Campbell to take his forces fumble 44 yards into the endzone. On special teams, both Hall and Morgan took one to the house. after the game Morgan was resigned for relatively cheap one year extension.

[twl221]

At KC, only 3 wins on the year, I was expecting another blowout. Complacency is the bane of professionalism, apparently, as I walked out of the game with the Chiefs losing 22-21 on a time-expiring field goal.

Our offense was not Saints like if this season has proved anything. Brees just didn't have it, 24/37-285-1-1, but he wasn't bad. Bush had few opportunities but did decently on the ground, 14-50-1, while leading the receiver group with 9-81-0. Morgan caught Brees touchdown.

We played well on defense despite the loss, as they couldn't take much advantage of the great field position they always seemed to have (4 field goals to 2 touchdown). Dumervil had 3 sacks and Rivers had one. No picks, and we held Nehemiah Broughton to 16-44-0, bows burned us this game 9-152-1. We continue struggles with teams that have more than 1 option passing; Tony Gonzalez caught the other score for them. Vilma had a GAME, 13 tackles, 5 for loss, while Rivers and Dumervil also had 4 TFLs. That put us with 2 losses to 8 wins, heading back to NO to face the Packers.